Fruit cutting machine



Nov. 1, 1932. M. c. HJELTE FRUIT CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 14, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l .e N m M Mrs/f ma i Nov. 1, 1932.. M. c. HJELTE 1,885,600

FRUIT CUTTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 14, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 g J I u'l I i 74 i. 2 z 1 @20 17 5 v 3 F; ii 9! E E 7 j w; i E

K 5 Ti 3 T 36 INVENTOR ja Masha/Z (Lye/3E2 BY ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I MARSHALL G. HJ'EI'TE, OF HONOLULU, TERRITORY OF HAWAII, ASSIGNOR TO HAWAIIAN PINEAPPLE COMPANY, LIMITED, F HONOLULU, HAWAII, A CORPORA- TION OF HAWAII FRUIT CUTTING MACHINE Application filed. January 14, 1932. Serial No. 586,641.

The invention relates to a machine for cutting slices of fruits, especially pineapples, into half slices and delivering duplicate stacks of half slices in stacking relation to form a cylinder of such half slices ready for packing in cans. The machine is especially adapted for treating damaged slices which are stacked into tiers in special shells or holders, so that corresponding stacks or tiers of half slices are cut at each operation and then assembled for packaging, as before stated, an important object of the invention being to conserve a large element of damaged or imperfect slices, which are recovered as half slices, and thereby reducing the quantity of damaged slices heretofore consigned to the crushed fruit class, which is necessarily of less commercial value.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view.

Fig. 4: is a fragmentary vertical mid section.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan, partly in section, showing a portion of the operating mechanism.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of one of the receiving shells.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the latter.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates the base of the machine, which is preferably made of a non-corrodible casting having a flat top and a circular guard or curb 2 around its front edge. Formed integrally with the base are lateral-bracket-like members 3, by means of which the machine may be attached to an ordinary packing table, the downward extensions of the brackets being connected by a cross member 4:, to which is secured a clevis 5. Preferably formed integrally with the base 1 is an upstanding hollow pintle 8, the upper edge of which is provided with a rabbet to constitute a thrust bearing to support one of the hinged shell members to be hereinafter described.

Secured to the base are uprights 6 connected at their tops by a cross member 7 the inner faces of the upright sections being channeled to provide guides for a reciprocating knife 10, which is provided with 'an offset section 11 at its mid portion, which permits the knife to clear the hollow pintle 8 and the parts associated therewith, when the knife is moved downwardly toward the base. The knife is normally retracted or moved to its upper position, as indicated in full lines in Fig. l, by helical springs 13, 13, attached to the cross piece or header 7 and to the inner portion of a hand piece 12 secured to the mid section of the knife and which serves as a means for moving the knife downward in the cutting operation.

Pivoted to the base at approximately the level of the top surface of the latter is a table 9 adapted to be tilted forwardly and downwardly, said table being conveniently formed as a half disk of non-corrosive metal.

Pivotally mounted concentrically with the hollow pintle 8 are two semi-cylindrical shell members 15, 15, which normally occupy the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 3 with their vertical edges in substantial parallelism and close proximity to the path of movement of the reciprocating knife 10, the inner faces of said shells being provided with vertical ribs or corrugations, which serve to break any vacuum tending to form between the fruit slices engaging the inner faces of the shells, when the machine is in operation. As shown, each of the shells 15, 15 is pivotally mounted concentrically with the pin tle 8 by a slip-butt hinge. Shell 15 is provided with a hinged member 16, which is pinned to a tubular extension 17 concentric with the pintle 8 and, similarly, the shell member 15 is provided with a hinged member 16, which is pinned to a tubular extension 17, which is telescoped with the tubular member 17, the two tubular membars 17 and 17 being nested within the hollow pintle 8 and extending below the base 2. The lower edge of hinged member 16 engages th upper edge of hinged member 16 and, similarly, the lower edge of hinged mem ber 16 engages the upper edge of the fixed hollow pintle 8, the engaging portions being in the form of stepped bearings, as indicated. This hinging of the shell sections 15 and 15 about the same vertical axis insures the registering or abutting of the vertical edges of the shells, when said shells are swung outwardly,'as hereinafter described.

Fixed to the bottom of the sleeve or tubular member 17 is a hand lever 20 and, similarly fixed to the bottom of the sleeve 17, is a crank-like arm 21, the hand lever 20 and the arm 21 constituting two members of a compound toggle, the other elements of which are links 22'and 23 swivelled at their outer ends in a common pin carried by a slide 24 operating in a guide slot 25 formed on the under side of the base, the other ends of said links being pin connected to the hand lever 20 and the crank arm 21, respectively. The hand lever is normally retracted by a spring 26 connected to said lever and an chored to the base 1. lVith this particular disposition and arrangement of the parts described, when the hand lever 20 is moved toward the operator, it swings the shell section 15 about the pintle 8 as an axis, the movement of said shell section being toward the front. The link and slide connection between hand lever 20 and crank arm 21 is, in effect, a compound toggle or lazy-tong movement, which causes the crank arm 21 to rotate the shell section 15 to the same extent that the shell section 15 is moved directly by the hand lever 20, but in the opposite direction, so that, when the hand lever is moved through an arc of 90, the vertical edges of the shell sections will abut over, the table section 9.

As stated, the table section 9 is designed to tilt forward and downwardly for the purpose of discharging th damaged or discarded portions of the fruit slices, after the stacks of the half slices have been cut. To effect the tilting and return or retraction of the table section 9, mechanism operated by the reciprocation of the knife is provided, such mechanism consisting of a rod 30 slidably mounted in the sleeve 17 and passing through an opening in the rearward extension of the handle 12 secured to the knife, the upper end'of the rod having a collar secured thereto, a second collar being secured to the rod between the lower edge of the knife and the upper edges of the shell members 15, 15. The lower end of the rod is furnished with an elongated slot or eye 30, with which engages the intermediate pivot pin 36 of a toggle comprising links 33 and 34, the outer ends of which are pivoted to clevis 5 secured to the cross member 4 of the base and clevis 9 fixed to the under face of the table section 9, respectively.

The operation of the machine, as hereinbefore described, is as follows: The operator inspects the cut slices as delivered to the feed table, with which the machine is associated, and selects all the imperfect or damaged slices and stacks said slices in two tiers within the shell members 15, 15, being careful to dispose the slices so that only perfect half portions of each will occupy the respective shells, which latter occupy the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 3. When the two stacks of slices reach approximately the tops of the shell sections, they will, therefore, furnish a sufficient number of half slices to completely fill a can of substantially the same dimensions as the shell sections, when the latter are brought together. The operator then forces the knife 10 downward to the full limit of its stroke by means of the handle 12, thereby cutting the stack of slices in a plane substantially coincident to the vertical edges of the shells 15, 15, leaving the two tiers of half slices within the shell sections and supported on the upper face of the base 1, the other portions of the stacks or tiers of slices in front of the knives resting on the table section 9. As the knife 10 approaches the lower limit of its cutting stroke, the extension 12 of the handle, through which the rod 30 passes, engages the collar 31 and moves the rod downwardly, thereby breaking the toggle interposed between the table section 9 and the frame and causing said table section to tilt downwardly, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 and in full lines in Fig. 4, so that, when the cutting operation is completed, the discarded or damaged portions of the slices occupying the table section 9 are permitted to slide off the latter l Vhen the cutting operation has been completed, the operator releases handle 12 permitting the springs 13 to retract or return the knife to its upper position ready for the next operation. The upward movement of the knife causes the lug 12 to engage the collar 31 the upper end of the rod 30, thereby raising the rod, which swings the toggle constituted by links 33 and 34, which has the effect of moving the table section 9 back into its normal position, the movement of the toggle being slightly past the dead point, that is to say, with its central pivot slightly above a straight line connecting the into a receptacle provided to receive the same.

end pivots of the toggle, so that the table is automatically locked in its elevated position by the toggle. As soon as the upward stroke of the knife has been completed and the table section 9 returned to its normal position. the operator swings hand lever 20 forward, which causes the two shell sections 15 and 15' with the stacks of half slices therein to move outwardly until the vertical edges of the shells abut each other and the two stacks of half slices are also brought into abutting engagement, forming a cylindrical tier supported by the table section. A conjoint movement of the shell sections is effected by the compound toggle movement hereinbefore described, the position of the latter, when the shell sections are inabutting engagement over the table section 9, being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5. The operator then releases the hand lever 20. which is immediately swung backward into retracted position by spring 26, thereby swinging the shell sections 15 and 15 to their normal positions over the base, as indicated in Fig. 3. Because of the tendency of the out half slices to adhere to the surface of the shells 15 and 15, when said shells are retracted, due to the formation of a vacuum between the fruit and the inner walls of the shells, the ribs or corrugations on the inner faces of said shells are provided to break the vacuum and free the fruit from the shell sections. When the shell sections have been retracted and the cylindrical stack, consisting of two tiers of half sections, is left on the table section 9, an empty can is inverted over the cylindrical stack, so that, by quickly reversing the can, the operator may lift the same with the stack therein ready for the subsequent sealing operation.

As hereinbefore stated, the machine is especially adapted to the treatment of clamaged or imperfect slices of pineapple and is designed to recover at least one-half of each damaged slice, when an undamaged half is available, the cutting of the half slices being effected as soon as enough damaged or imperfect slices have accumulated to fill up the two se1ni-cylindrical shell sections of the machine, the two stacks of damaged or imperfect slices being cut into two tiers of perfect half slices, the damaged portions of the slices discharged from the machine, and the two tiers of half slices left, being brought into registering engagement to form a single cylindrical stack or column sufficient to fill a can of substantially the same size as that of the shell members 15 and 15.

What I claim is:

1. A machine of the class described, com-- right frame supported from the base, a knife slidable in said frame toward and from said base, two semi-cylindrical shells pivoted on a perpendicular axis secured to the base and adapted to receive stacks of damaged slices to be cut into half slices by the knife, means for swinging the shells toward each other to bring the stacks of half slices into juxtaposi- 7 5. A machine as described in claim 2, in V which the table section is tiltable to discharge the severed damaged sections of the slices, and means operated by the reciprocating knife to tilt and retract said table section.

6. A machine of the character described, comprising a base, a table section pivoted for tilting movement relative thereto, an upright frame secured to the base, a knife slidable in said frame, two semi-cylindrical shells pivoted on an upright pintle on the base to receive stacks of damaged slices to be cut into half slices, the side edges of said shells being parallel with the path of movement of said knife, means for swinging the shells toward each other to bring the stacks of out half slices into juxtaposition on said table, and means operated by the knife to tilt and retract the table section during the cutting and return strokes of said knife.

7. A machine as described in claim 6, in which the table actuating means comprises an upright rod having spaced stops thereon to be engaged by a lug on the knife, and a toggle having its ends pivoted to the table section and to the base respectively and its intermediate joint pivoted to the lower portion of said rod.

8. A machine of the character described, comprising a base having an upright hollow pintle thereon, a table section pivoted for tilting movement relative to said table, an upright frame secured to the base, a knife slidable in said frame toward and from the base, two semi-cylindrical shells having sleeves pivotally associated with said pintle, said shellsbeing adapted to receive stacks of damaged slices with the damaged portions thereof overlying the table section, a compound toggle mechanism, including a hand lever, connected to the sleeves of the shells to swing the latter into closed and open position, a toggle having its end connected to the retracted.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

MARSHALL C. HJELTE. 

